The New York Bad Ass is Back!

[Tony Montana]

from insidefighting.com
Just moments ago, Mohegan Sun reduced the suspension of Phil Baroni to 4 months. He will be eligible to fight again in 10 days. Talks are already underway to have Baroni fight at UFC 48 in July. "2004 will be the year of the Bad Ass!" exlaimed an exhuberant Baroni. We're interviewing Baroni now. Details to follow.

[PREDATOR]

thats great to hear. Love him or hate him, he sells tickets. Im sure throughout his lay off he has been training. MAybe a baroni matchup could take place at ufc 48?

[dogofwar]

Word to your mother....

[Tony Montana]

Ring Girl, or should I say Miss. Team Quest, what are your thoughts?

[Ring Girl]

LOL@Miss Team Quest. :)

I think four months is too little punishment for what Phil did. I think Phil should be given an opportunity to prove he learned something from the situation, but I think that he was given too light a slap on the wrist. UFC is more interested purely in making money than in encouraging good behavior and respectability or even making the UFC a 'sport' -- they are making this clearer by the day.

[Cbear]

The ref should be issued a Taser in Baronis next fight.

Its too bad Dana hates Team Quest because he should make a Tanner rematch as Baronis next with Lindland 4 after that. Let Mr. Roid Rage keep facing Team Quest under he can beat one of them or learns to control his temper. I suspect Dana will feed Baroni an easy fight next so he can get a win. Dana wants Phil to win in the worst possible way.

[Ring Girl]

Totally agree with you, Cbear.

Also, it should be noted that InsideFighting.com reported wrong and have now corrected themselves his sentence was reduced to THREE months. Complete BS in my opinion.

[Cbear]

How can 3 months be a suspension when its barely more than regular down time between events? Grrrrrrr

I don't have a problem with Phils punishment time being shortened, but this is so little as to be......nothing.

[just Brian]

Wow, first the deal in San Fransico, now a three month suspension...this truly is the Year of the Bad Ass.

[dogofwar]

4 months, he recieved a 4 month suspension, not 3 and missed 2 UFC, or will since 47 is already finshed. CBear making a rematch w/ Tanner isn't punishment it's what he wants, Baroni overreacted but he was given just cause..

Landless botched that whole fight and I heard he messed up Thompson/Franca. He stinks as a ref. 4 months is fine by me. The Bad Ass is back.

[creampuff]

Holy crap that's really been shortened quite a bit.

I hope Phil gets to fight Lee Murray. That would be the best potential UFC fight for the 185 lbs division.

[Force]

The suspension is fine with me. He over reacted but man....He got totally screwed!!! I think the fact that he was totally right and landless was wrong makes the overeaction far less severe. Get the guy back in the ring and give him a chance to get his career back on track. If he doesn't gas in 2 minutes because he is too built he could be a force to be reckoned with.

[D241]

10 bucks says he gets suspended before he fights due to steroid usage.

[Cbear]

Baroni gassing because he is too built? Hmmmm well I guess thats one possible reason for gassing. I can't wait for Phil to get a title fight some day so we can see how his physique looks when he enters the ring. $5 says its a different body.

Phil is fun to watch fight and I have no problem with him. But, this punishment was a joke.

[dogofwar]

What did you want? A 4 month suspension, they docked his pay, he missed 2 UFC so that is potential money gone..

What more do you think he earned. Remember he didn't throw strikes at Landless w/ deadly intent. He was just frustrated since Landless cost him the fight..

Tyson got a year for biting a man's ear off, twice, in one fight, you really feel Baroni should have been equal to that?

[Cbear]

Dog I disagree. I think Phil did throw punches with deadly intent but he was so gassed they just fluffed off. :lol:

Ok, here is what I want for punishment. On the next ppv I want Baroni to take a spanking from Randy Couture with his belt while Gramps preaches at him to learn some danged sportsmanship. Then I want his mouth washed out with soap. Ok, now I'm happy and he can fight again.

[dogofwar]

My bad..it was 3 months..

http://www.insidefighting.com/betweenRoundsDisp.aspx?uid=440

I didn't even realize the Landless allowed one of Tanner's corner men to enter the cage during the round. That is an automatic stopage, one of which he blew.

I don't think Baroni was THAT gassed, he was defending himself quite well, none of those elbows really landed. I look at that as a moment of frustration, which is still wrong.

[Cbear]

All of this joking about Baroni not being able to control himself makes me wonder if can fight without being angry. How would it change his game if he were to be able to channel his aggression and focus? Some fighters seem to fight better angry (Silva/Tito) while others like Couture/Saku/Henderson fight with this zen like attitude. Both types have success. Baroni fights angry but it causes him to make mistakes. If he could control and channel his emotions, I wonder if it would help or if he would lose the fire and be less effective? I think the angry fighters win on speed and strength while the calm zen fighters win on skill and capitalizing on thinking on their feet. I don't know that any of this matters, just something I was thinking about.

[Ring Girl]

...

[dogofwar]

...

Very informative RG..

[Ring Girl]

LOL - sorry, I wanted to delete it, but we can't delete here. I responded to someone before reading the whole thread and discovered someone else had already posted the same thing, so I didn't want to be redundant.

[captainbluff]

LOL - sorry, I wanted to delete it, but we can't delete here. I responded to someone before reading the whole thread and discovered someone else had already posted the same thing, so I didn't want to be redundant.

Sure sure sure, I bet you did that to increase your APD (Average Posts per Day ) ...j/k

[Tony Montana]

I've got to side with dogofwar here. You guys might think he got off easy but when you consider;

- he missed 2 UFCs
- they docked his pay from that fight
- legal fees (easily a few thousand)
- all the bad press and other crap
- Landless admitted his error
- I don't think deadly intent existed

I'm happy to have him back. I do understand how the people at Team Quest (especially Lindland) are insulted by this. But heck, I just want to see exciting fights and that's exactly what Baroni delivers.

I wonder if Baroni's accusations that Tanner won't accept a rematch are valid or just trash talk in the hope to get him to accept.

[Ring Girl]

- he missed 2 UFCs
- they docked his pay from that fight
- legal fees (easily a few thousand)
- all the bad press and other crap
- Landless admitted his error
- I don't think deadly intent existed

Baroni lives for bad press, has he ever had good press? And do we know he was paying the legal fees? I've heard rumors that Zuffa was helping and/or paying for it. And Landless being right or wrong is irrelevant to whether what Baroni did was right or wrong.

I wonder if Baroni's accusations that Tanner won't accept a rematch are valid or just trash talk in the hope to get him to accept.

Tanner was just on MMAWeekly radio this morning tell Baroni it was 'on' - so sounds like it was Baroni talking trash...

[Force]

You beat me to it Tony Montana. I have to agree with Dog here too. He took a major reputation and character hit through this whole thing. He has suffered enough. Lets get it on. The guy is exciting and is good for the UFC. The whole thing was blown out of proportion. It was unfortunate and wrong but considering the situation I think more guys than just Baroni would have done something similar.

He definitely gasses because he has too much muscle. More muscle mass=more lactic acid produced and retained=fighter gassing. Ever watch the Worlds Strongest Man Competition with Manfred Hoerbel? The guy had the largest arms in the world. A totally ripped massive 28 inches!! He was easily stronger than the other guys but he could not maintain his strength as long as the other guys becuase he said his arms would start to ache from lactic acid build up. He could have easily curled or benched way more weight than the other guys if they had to do one lift but he lost out when it was a lighter weight with more reps. I think the same thing happens to Baroni. Sapp is another example.

[cyonbloodbane]

This wont come as a shock to most of you, but the suspension was a joke in my opinion, comparing it with Tyson is stupid, Tyson attacked the other fighter, not the referee. And yes I am saying it is much more severe if you attack the referee. And I will say it again, HE WAS NOT INTELIGENTLY DEFENDING HIMSELF! was the decision to stop it hasty? maybe but if Phil had not gotten up and starting attacking the referee we would not be here discussing this. This shows that Zuffa is just a bunch of corrupt morons like the professional boxing world. It's fine, this is how the business works, but don't say it was actually right.

ohhh... vs. Murray that would be great two hosers that both need an ass kicking!

[D241]

well, i don't agree with tony and dog, however....

you can put me right down the line on this one because....

against 3 month:what he did was wrong, he didn't get his rep damaged, come on ya'll...he's the "ny bad ass".ny bad asses don't hand flowers to the refs or opponents.
he showed that adults can question authority when they don't agree.
true he missed two ufc's, however had he not been suspended, he still wouldn't have fought in those ufc's.


not against 3month:being that boxers make hundreds of thousands per match, and millions for title bouts, baroni isn't a big money maker, as well as most mma fighters.
landless did make a mistake in that fight, however still not justified what baroni did.
and last but not least, ufc, in my oppinion has really suffered since ufc 45, and having baroni fight soon(hopefully 47), it will comensate to fans such as myself who are begining to think that ufc is just out to get money, and not trying to have quality fighters/shows.

[ACIDBATHBELFORT]

Im glad Phil is back. I dont agree with everything he says or does but he is an entertaining fighter. He did wrong and paid for it. If he would have really wanted to hurt Landless he would have gotten up to throw harder punches. He was wrong though, by all means he did deserve to be repremanded. Id like to see him and Tanner fight again. There should be a rematch right away.

[Iron Maiden]

Thats a shame....it will happen again...you watch.

Baroni is a clown....and should have been punished the full length....The New York Dumb Ass got a break because he sells tickets...and money is the priority over integrity anyday.

[Hannibal_JSayto_Lecter]

Baroni is not one of my favorites fighters but he sell tickets and he fights good.

I want to see the Tanner/Baroni´s rematch.. Tanner will win again but I think that fight will be a great one.

Baroni sucks like a person but I want to see him back.

[Cbear]

Iron Maiden is absolutely correct, people are happy he is back because he is a fun fighter to watch. I suspect many would have a totally opposite opinion if ithis was a boring fighter or someone not popular. Then they would be happy for a year suspension. I think theres a definite double standard. If that would have been Tank Abbott, yall would have wanted him banned for life. :lol:

[ACIDBATHBELFORT]

Damn, thats a really strong point Cbear, but in sports there are double standards as in everyday life. Baroni is a slugger so people want to see him. He is cocky, so that brings more fans......that either love him or love to hate him. Good point about Tank! Thats the whole reason Tyson got off easy, because he brings in meg-money.

[Cbear]

ABB, I wasn't attacking anyone for wanting Phil back but I do see people having a totally different reaction if it was someone else. For instance, fans who think Matt Linland is boring probably wouldn't be supportive at all of him getting a lighter suspension if he wigged out in the cage. I can almost smell the posts....'ah, he's boring, so who cares.' Thus, the conundrum. The law is supposed to be equally applied and when a fav gets off easy, people can't complain when everyone gets it easy.

And to make Dog happy, I amended my punishment of Baroni. Instead of washing his mouth out with soap, he now needs to write on the black board one hundred times.."I will not have a roid fueled freakout in the Octagon." :lol:

[ACIDBATHBELFORT]

Cbear i know you wasnt attacking anyone who wanted Baroni back. I actually agreed with what you said, and I do know there is a double standard. Good point about Lindland.

[littlechamp1]

I think he'll come back better than ever to straighten out the MW division. With Lindland supposedly gone he has a clean shot at the title, so I say put him and Tanner in a rematch at UFC 48, and the winner gets the title shot or the belt itself.

[DaBigHurt]

I said it before and I'llsay it again,. "IF that was Big John in the Ring that wouldnt have ever happened.
Phil is from NY and so am I so I have to support him on some level. He has paid his dues. Lets just hope it wont happen again.

[ACIDBATHBELFORT]

Big John has blown a few calls, but he is the best MMA ref in the biz. Everyone will make a mistake from time to time. Landless though has been inconsistant. I dont think Baroni would have swung at Big John, he has more respect with the fighters and they know when he stops it, its usually a correct call.

[dogofwar]

Never anything to the extent of Landless and BJM corrects his **** ups..

Landless just looks dumbfounded.

[shayne]

3 months is nothing for what that roid-head Baroni did. It just opens that gates for any top name fighter in the UFC to do whatever they want. Imagine what would happen if Tito Ortiz beat the ref up!? He'd probably get something to the extent of a $5,000 fine without any suspensions at all.

It's complete BS. At least he's still got that lifetime ban on one of those states though.